savetheearth | (no subject)

Entry tags:

(no subject)

Who: Neil Dylandy (

hotshots) & Eugen Lambert (

buildyourworld)
What: Pilots butting head about the approaching battle.
When: 9/24
Where: Their suite in the hotel.
Warnings: General

Ever since the existence of the giant lobster was discovered by Arthur, Eugen had been a wreck emotionally. To be absolutely honest with himself, he really wanted nothing but to fly back to Locke, mafia attack or not. He didn't want to fight with the giant lobster despite owning a giant robot. Or rather, it was precisely because he had a giant robot that he didn't want to fight. The battle with Wise Snake was enough to last a lifetime for him. He didn't need a repeat of it. For all the tough front he had been putting on, he was still an engineer first and a fighter last.

But he knew there was no way his boss will let him return to Locke at this point and after all the hard work he put into gaining his trust, he wasn't going to screw up his own career. So instead of panicking (outwardly anyway), he tried to channel his anxiety into something productive, like drafting possible battle plans and prayed that he would be able to remember them when it mattered the most. The once clean and tidy table he was occupying was now littered with all notes and battle drafts.

Leaning back into the chair, he rubbed his tired eyes as he continued brainstorming with himself mentally. "What else... how do we deal with those claws..."

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"Dude."

Leaning up against a door frame, weight on his good leg with his arms crossed, was Neil. Her smirked a bit, though it's a bit more hollow than normal.

"You look like you're about to come unglued, even if you're trying to act otherwise. Just sayin'."

Startled by the sudden appearance, he shot the older man a glare while he worked on calming his nerve down.

"What else am I supposed to do? Hide in my closet?"

He made no effort to deny that he was indeed at the verge of breaking down. The fact that he asked those questions without any trace of aggression was pretty telling. He was afraid and anxious. All he wanted to do was build revolutionary machines to improvise farming and the livelihood of farmers. The echoes and superpower-charged battles, he can do without them any day, but instead, he was stuck in them. It was no wonder he was feeling under the weather.

Neil gives a slight shrug, pushing off the door frame and walking in. "Nah, man. All you can do is deal with it. We might be down a few machines, but... we've got our Gundams. We can deal with that damned thing if it wakes up."

He chuckles, though that too feels a bit empty. "It could be worse, y'know? At least we have a better idea of what the hell we're supposed to expect."

"Easier said than done..." He muttered, reaching back to rub at his stiff neck and shoulder. "Even if you said so, we don't know what it can do..."

He sighed and slumped back into the chair, "I'll rather it won't wake up, I don't want to fight..." That came out whinier that he thought and Eugen immediately regretted saying so.

At that, Neil finishes walking over... and promptly gives Eugen a firm slap upside the back of the head.

"Yeah, well - no one does, unless they're crazy as hell. I might be a little nuts, but I ain't even there."

He snorts. "This isn't about 'want' and you know it."

He sounds a little more firm than normal, and possibly a little irritated. Something about that whiny tone seems to have hit him in a way that's different from normal.

He bucks up at the slap, instantly reaching for his head with a yelp, "Hey!!!" He looked up with a scowl, obviously displease with the hit. "What was that for?!"

Picking up on Neil's tone, Eugen bites his lips and he gets up from the seat to sit on the bed instead, putting some distance between them so he wouldn't get smack again. Pulling his legs up, he hugs them and rest his chin on the knees.

"I know..." And yet, "...I'm scared, Neil... I'm not like you, I'm not a soldier. All these fighting, I just want them to stop."

Neil crosses his arms and sighs. "No, you're not. I only was a soldier, though..."

He takes a look outside through a window in the room.. Vegas looks weird as hell, now. "That's kinda the thing, really. Not many of the people involved in this mess are, but I think we learned one thing with the snake, and that's the fact that your average soldier isn't going to cut it in a mess like this, unfortunately. I mean... I fought there, but who killed that damned thing? Buncha kids, mostly.

"Which pisses me off. People who didn't want to fight shouldn't be fighting. You should be in school. My sister shouldn't be on the run from the fucking mafia. But, here we are."

He shakes his head, walking off, towards that window. "The choice wasn't made for us, but we gotta do the best with it we can." He taps a fist against the window, sighing. "Or else things are gonna turn out a hell of a lot worse than they are now, and... don't know about you? But I'm not satisfied to let that happen."

Edited 2014-09-26 04:13 (UTC)

His eyes follow Neil across the room and out of the room, at the mountain scene that shouldn't be here in Vegas. Neil's words has him thinking quietly for a while, as he stares out pensively. It's not as if he doesn't understand the situation (he does, that's why he's trying so hard) but he still couldn't shake off the fear that grips him harder each passing day.

"...I don't know. I want to tell you I'll fight with you and everyone else but I'm not sure if that's what I want to do. I don't want another huge battle to break out and regardless of how much power we have, I'm afraid. Even when we are doing our best, things still get progressively worse. Sometimes... I just want to get away from all this, leave the boundaries and forget all about it." Hugging himself tighter, "...but I can't."

"Well, no one's making you."

He doesn't turn to look at him, but frowns. "You could run. You could forget about all of this shit, do whatever the hell you want. No one wants this, no one wants to fight, no one wants to risk their lives. But if you don't..."

He looks back at him, finally. "Who's going to? Things are tough, yeah. But if we don't do this, who's going to stop these things? If you say you can't, then... that's sort of it, isn't it? You can be mad and frustrated about all of this, but... whining about it isn't gonna fix anything. Either do it, or don't."

Another snort, and he leans back against the window. "For me, I've got people to protect. My mother. Amy. Lyle." His eyes narrow. "I'm not gonna let them die like Lockon's family."

He knows he's whining and Neil has every reason to be annoyed with him but somehow, instead of feeling like he's being reprimanded, he simply feels lighter in the heart. Perhaps he simply needs to reaffirm himself, to unload his worries on someone he could count on. He finally told his parents about being a Numbered and their first response was for him to return home so he's not in harm's way. Faced with so much pressure from a new job and the situation in general, he has been contemplating his parents call even though logically, he knows that's not the right thing to do. But between the imminent danger of yet another city scale battle and his own insecurities, the call to return home only amplifies his fears.

So hearing those strongly resolved words from Neil really helps, "I'm trying, Neil... I'm trying my best--" That's it, until Neil's words trigger an echo that floods his memory with exactly what happened to Lockon's family and his mood immediately plummets. "It won't happen to you." Gritting his teeth in a new found resolve, he uncurls himself and sits up straight, "I won't let it happens to you..."

Sure, they are far from being best friend and has only met less than a year ago but there's something about having fought together that makes their camaraderie something that Eugen is particularly protective of. There's no way he will let such atrocities happen to Neil's family.

He stares for a long moment. Yeah, he's come to recognize the look people get when a pulse comes to them, and he sighs. "Sorry about that, didn't mean to trigger anything."

He runs a hand back through his hair. "So, yeah. That's where I am. I do what I can, and that's it. I've had to put my life on hold too. My career, everything. But... so long as I'm keeping them safe, nothing else matters."

He grins despite feeling a little nauseated with the memory. "It's alright. It's a given since they were teammates." They being Lockon and Tieria. Though it suddenly occurs to him that despite getting memories about Tieria, he has never once remembers anything about the guy's family. "Hey, have you gotten anything about Tieria's family?" He's curious, so to say, of what motivates him to pilot a war machine.

Leaning back on his hands, he looks up the ceiling quietly, thinking about the things he went through ever since Wise Snake's attack back at Locke City. "Yeah... wish I could back to university and finish up my doctorate. I'm glad my parents are nowhere near the chaos we have to face." Looking back at Neil, "If you need a place for your family, just let me know. There's plenty of room on our farm."

Neil cocks an eyebrow, but shakes his head. "Nah. Not a thing, and this was the first - only thing thing I ever remembered about Lockon's. Still... I'm thinking it might tell me a lot about why he did whatever it is he did."

He gives a smile, a bit kinder than his normal one, and laughs. "I'll keep it in mind, but they'd never agree to it. Mom and Amy are city girls."

Although disappointed, he nods and gives Neil a weak smile, "At least you could understand him... I wonder what drove Tieria into piloting Virtue..."

Neil comment about his family has Eugen chuckling in agreement. He has only met his mother whenever he drops by the bar but even those interactions were enough to tell him what kind of life she would prefer. There's no doubt that Amy would certainly prefer the city from the way she carries herself. "Let's hope it will never come to that then."

He shrugs. "Who knows? But I wouldn't worry about whatever drove him too much. What drives you is what's most important, right? These people are dead and gone as far as we're concerned."

He smirks. "You'd have to fight 'em tooth and nail and you'd probably still lose."

Neil was right, they were gone. What worried him however was a different matter altogether. Things like what happened to L, that he was slowly echoing back a lot of who he were. If Tieria was evil, Eugen wanted to know before he started turning into one. But he knew there was no use worrying over this so he said nothing about it.

One thing for sure though, this little talk had eased his feeling, not entirely but he was definitely a lot more hopeful than he ever was for a while.

He looked up at the older Meister, a small smile spread across his face. "Thank you, Neil."

He just gives a grin and a thumb's up for a second. "Eh, don't sweat it. Someone's gotta keep you kids on the right track, y'know?"

Edited 2014-10-11 22:31 (UTC)

That gets a grin out of him too. There's always something about the laid back way of the older pilot that could really pulls you out of the funk. "You're a kid too."

He scratches his head. "Well, Mom always says I'm kind of a big one, so... I guess I can't really argue there."

With a grin, he punches Neil lightly on his abs before getting up. "Let's go get something to eat, I'm hungry."

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